Joe Jusko (; born September 1, 1959) is an American
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
known for his realistic, highly detailed painted
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
,
pin-up
A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...
, and cover
illustration
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...
s, mainly in the
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
industry. Jusko painted the 1992
Marvel Masterpieces
Marvel Masterpieces is the name of several subsequent sets of trading cards, printed during 1992-2008, depicting characters and events from Marvel Comics. Featuring large, vividly drawn card fronts and backs detailing trivia, each card showcased a ...
trading cards
A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...
, the popularity of which has been credited with initiating the painted trading card boom of the 1990s.DragonCon biography. Accessed Oct. 8, 2008.
Early life
Born in Manhattan's
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
and growing up in New York City, the son of a construction worker and a homemaker, Jusko attended the
High School of Art and Design
The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and mor ...
, where his instructors included Bernard Krigstein. He graduated in 1977 with the
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
Award of Excellence in Cartooning.
Career
Comics
After graduating, Jusko worked as an assistant for five months for
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.
Early life ...
, which led to Jusko selling his first cover for '' Heavy Metal'' magazine at the age of 18.Contino, Jennifer "Joe Jusko's Power Paintings," Comicon.com (March 20, 2003). Accessed Oct. 8, 2008. Forgoing college, Jusko went straight into commercial illustration.
Jusko has worked for almost every major comic-book publisher, producing hundreds of images for both covers and interiors. In addition to his long stint as one of the main cover artists for ''
The Savage Sword of Conan
''The Savage Sword of Conan'' was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. ''Savage Sword of Conan'' starred ...
'', Jusko has painted every major
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
character, including the
Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...
and the
Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...
.
Jusko has also produced covers and interior art for many other comics companies and characters, including
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
,
Crusade Comics
William Tucci is an illustrator, writer, and filmmaker best known for his creator-owned title and character, '' Shi''.
Career
Tucci founded Crusade Comics in Bayport, New York Its flagship title, '' Shi'', debuted in March 1994. Publisher To ...
,
Innovation Comics
Innovation Publishing (also known as Innovation Books and the Innovative Corporation) was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising U ...
,
Harris Comics
Harris Publications Inc. was an American special interest media company, operating over 75 brands with print, digital, mobile and live event platforms prior to its sale to Athlon Media in 2016. It produced magazines that educate, entertain, inf ...
,
Wildstorm Comics
Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wildst ...
,
Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992.
History
During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim L ...
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
and
Vampirella
Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of ''Creepy'' ...
trading card sets.
Jusko produced the collection, ''The Art of Joe Jusko'' (
Desperado Publishing
Desperado Publishing is an American independent comic book publisher, established in 2004. Located in Norcross, Georgia, Desperado's president is Joe Pruett, its creative director is Stephan Nilson, and its director of business development is forme ...
, 2009), as well as a graphic novel adaptation of
Steve Niles
Steve Niles (born June 21, 1965) is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as ''30 Days of Night'', '' Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery'', ''Simon Dark'', ''Mystery Society'', and '' Batman: Gotham County Line''.
...
's supernatural detective Cal MacDonald.
Upper Deck announced a new Marvel Masterpiece series to go along with their 25th anniversary. Scheduled for the end of this year, Jusko, just like the original will be completing all new 135 base card images (1992's base card series contained 100 cards).
Jusko has also produced storyboards for ad agencies, for such notable clients as the
World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
. Jusko provided the promotional poster artwork for WrestleMania VII in 1991.
In 2016 Jusko provided interior illustrations for the
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
Modiphius Entertainment
Modiphius Entertainment is an RPG and tabletop game publisher based in Fulham, London. Modiphius was founded in 2012 by husband-wife team Rita and Chris Birch to publish their first game ''Achtung! Cthulhu''. The company have since published a n ...
.
In April 2022, Jusko was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to
Operation USA
Operation USA (also known as OpUSA, Operation California, or OpCal) is a non profit humanitarian organization supporting health, education and relief programs at home and abroad in order to help children and families recover and thrive in the wak ...
's benefit anthology book, ''Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds'', a project spearheaded by editor
Scott Dunbier
Scott Dunbier is an American comic book editor, best known as the Special Projects Editor at IDW Publishing.
Career
Dunbier rose to prominence in the comic book industry as executive editor of the Wildstorm comic book line. After several years a ...
, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. Jusko, who joined the project in its second week, produced the art for the book's title page, commenting, "As a third generation
Ukrainian American
Ukrainian Americans ( uk, Українські американці, Ukrayins'ki amerykantsi) are Americans who are of Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent represent ...
whose grandmother had her entire lineage erased during WWII, I am honored to contribute to this most important endeavor."
New York City police officer
At one point in his career, Jusko became "disillusioned with the lack of work . . . and became a ew York City
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
. After several years I realized art was my main passion and went back to it full time. Luckily, the second time was a charm and my career took off." After the
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, terrorist attacks, Jusko created the ''Police and Firefighter Heroes of September 11'' lithograph, all proceeds of which went to the New York City Police and Fire Department Widows' and Orphans' Fund.Jusko bio at Vampirella: Daughter of Drakulon. Accessed Oct. 8, 2008.
Awards
Jusko won the
Comics Buyer's Guide
''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The public ...
Fan Award for Favorite Painter in 1992 and 1993, and the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Painter in 1993 and 1994. His fully painted graphic novel ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
: The Greatest Treasure of All'' won a Certificate of Merit from the
Society of Illustrators
The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition.
History
Founding
The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...